DSST: Byers Middle School (2186)
150 S. Pearl St.
DENVER, CO 80209
Charter School.
479
Total Students Served
Grade 6 - Grade 8
School District:
Denver County 1 (0880)
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School Profile
About DSST: Byers Middle School (2186)
A MESSAGE FROM:
DSST: Byers Middle School
2023-2024
DSST: Cedar Middle School was founded in 2013 as the fifth campus of the thriving DSST Public Schools network in Denver, Colorado. We began DSST: Byers in 2013 with a class of 150 6th grade students who had breakout learning success their first year. Composite growth on our state exams (TCAP) was the highest in Colorado history and showed strong results for students of all backgrounds and abilities. Our school was rated on Denver's School Performance Framework as Distinguished and also as the to…
p-performing middle school in Denver following that first year. We were also recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School in 2019. In short, our students have achieved and sustained excellence since our founding. We are inherently a learning-focused school at all levels and humbly believe that we have built our school on the shoulders of giants. When you ask our leaders why they lead in our building, they will unanimously say it is because we are a people development organization through and through. All members of our team receive weekly coaching and development and we meet in many intentional structures and teams in order to maintain excellence and nurture innovation in continuous cycles. This focus on coaching and teaming reinforces our view of the human condition that all people want to be known, affirmed for who they are, and to contribute meaningfully to the larger human story. Our systems, structures, and practices reinforce the belief that schools are built to nurture individuals to their fullest potential- adults and children alike. In our work together, we have accumulated hundreds of practices that form a coherent whole. These practices are often grouped according to the acronym TIOCCC: Team, Instruction, Operations, Culture, Community, and College. The following is a brief explanation of each area: Team : We are obsessed with our people and building healthy, dynamic teams. We base much of our teaming efforts on the work of Patrick Lencioni and Strengths Finder. We employ a distributive leadership philosophy emphasizing teacher leadership supported by high quality administrative leadership. Instruction : We are a standards-based liberal arts program with a focus on STEM. Our instructional practices are captured in DSST's Teacher Effectiveness Rubric and reflect best practices from research. We employ strategies ranging from Socratic Seminars and group-centered problem solving teams to daily Mastery Checks and a posted agenda for every class. Operations : We strive to reduce the administrative burden on teachers and streamline school operations for families as much as possible within Colorado's relatively resource-scarce environment. By creating and committing to high-quality systems, our team can maximize their focus on the needs of our students. Culture : We believe that you either shape culture or it shapes you. We are incredibly precise about the culture we are working to build together and have layers of systems that support the maintenance of an inclusive, high-achieving, relationship-centered school and staff culture. Community : As a diverse-by-design, open-enrollment school in the heart of the segregated city of Denver, we work to build community among students who would not have had the opportunity to be in community otherwise. We gather daily in advisories, grade-level, and whole-school meetings to celebrate our values, individual growth and achievement, and our community as a whole. College : We strive to prepare all our students not only for college acceptance but for success in college in the 21st century. This requires an individualized college placement process, world-class academic environment, family partnerships, and a network of strong relationships with colleges and universities. If you ask a member of our team how school is going, they will likely point first to something we are working on improving versus the school's many strengths. We strive for excellence and to eliminate educational inequity. We have not yet achieved either of these to our satisfaction so will always pursue the next opportunity to improve and fulfill our full potential as a school community.
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